Because there was a large crowd in front of her, Mira dared not speak too loudly.

Her words trailed off softly into the air. Lance understood the intent she wished to convey, but he couldn’t help but smile.

He seemed to be in a good mood.

Mira, from her vantage point, could just catch sight of the corners of Lance’s lips curving upward.

She lowered her head, a strange feeling bubbling up within her.

However, this emotion did not linger for long.

Lady Ellin led the group into her home, which had been ransacked by bandits. Her youngest son, who always called himself a hero, was the one who resisted most fiercely, and as a result, he had been subjected to the harshest beatings.

The “soldiers” seemed to have mastered many ways of tormenting people. Lady Ellin could tell they didn’t know any martial arts; at most, they had a little more strength than the average person. Yet, even so, a few of them could overpower her son.

"Mom!" A girl, upon seeing Lady Ellin return, swiftly jumped down from the roof. "I saw them heading southwest," she said. "There are three towns in that direction, maybe..."

"Ina," Lady Ellin interrupted her, "go and entertain our guests." She walked past her youngest daughter and into the house.

Ina reluctantly closed her mouth. She was puzzled, not understanding why so many people had come to their home. The girl keenly noticed the strangers in the crowd and curiously studied Mira and Lance. When her gaze landed on Lance, she let out a small sound of surprise.

Lance's eyes also shifted, and upon seeing the young girl, he raised an eyebrow.

Mira noticed the slight change and, following Lance’s example, observed the little girl named Ina.

The girl looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a rough cloth dress in the same color as her mother’s. However, unlike her mother’s clean attire, the girl’s dress was dusty, as if she had rolled in the mud. From the way she had jumped down from the roof, Mira could easily imagine that the freckled girl with bright, sparkling eyes was a mischievous one.

But even then, Mira couldn’t understand why Lance had shown a surprised expression.

Lance’s gaze caught the thoughtfulness on Mira’s face.

The smile on his lips grew wider. The young mage shifted his position, leaning closer to Mira. The warm air he exhaled as he spoke brushed against her ear, making her instinctively shrink her neck.

“She inherited part of the soul of a warrior.” It was because of this power that the little girl had a unique sensitivity toward the dragon kin.

"Sounds amazing," Mira said, trying to evade the strange sensation, but as she shifted her weight, Lance’s body followed her movement.

Mira froze. She was afraid he might fall.

Just at that moment, Lady Ellin walked out of the storage room, carrying a wooden box.

Her expression grew solemn, with a tinge of sadness.

Mira immediately knew what the box contained: her late husband’s sword, the very blade that had slain a dragon.

She couldn’t help but wonder what the sword that had killed a dragon might look like. Perhaps it was adorned with beautiful jewels, its blade etched with intricate runes crafted by a master smith. It must carry the spirit of a dragon slayer.

Lady Ellin opened the wooden box.

Inside, quietly resting, was a sword — an extremely plain longsword. It had no decorations, no runes, just an ordinary steel blade. The handle’s pattern had been worn down, and the scabbard was made of worn leather hastily sewn together. It didn’t look like the kind of sword a hero would possess in the stories.

Mira felt a bit disappointed.

However, in the next instant, the longsword, which had been quietly resting in the box, suddenly floated up and stopped in front of Lance and Mira.

It emitted a blinding light, so intense that it was impossible to open one’s eyes. Mira suddenly realized how laughable her previous thoughts were. This was a true weapon meant for slaying evil. It didn’t need the extra adornment like a noble’s sword.

Sharpness was its only trait. Even though its master had passed away, the sword still followed its owner’s will, guarding everything and everyone worth protecting.

Lance suddenly felt his breath catch, as if someone had a hand around his neck.

He squinted his eyes, facing off against the floating sword as though confronting a dragon slayer.

The sword, stained with the blood of dragons, had the ability to pierce through dragon scales. If a strong enough hero held this sword at that moment, killing a wounded blue dragon wouldn’t be too difficult.

Lance wasn’t afraid. He lifted his chin, for even when facing a hero, the dragon kin wouldn’t flinch. Let alone a sword that had lost its master.

A dragon and a sword faced off, and the crowd around them fell into long silence.

The pale blue glow of the sword didn’t seem strong in comparison to its blinding white light, but it didn’t retreat in the slightest.

Until the light gradually faded, and the sword returned to the wooden box.

Lady Ellin closed the box and said to those around her, "He hasn’t lied, and he means no harm to us. If he tried to deceive us, Fran’s sword would have taken his head."

Her words sparked quiet murmurs.

It wasn’t the king, nor a dragon. Who could it be that took their husbands and children in the king’s name? The women had no answers. The dazzling light seemed to have a soothing power, and they emerged from their anger and sorrow, beginning to think more rationally about the strange circumstances of the situation.

Lady Ellin stepped forward.

"Strangers, though I don’t know where you come from or what your intentions are in coming to this town, you are the only ones who can help us." Her gaze shifted from Lance to Mira.

She could sense that it was this girl who was the one making decisions among them.

"Will you accept our commission? We can offer you a reward."

"Accept a commission?" Mira was surprised by Lady Ellin’s words. It sounded like something a hero would do.

Accept a commission to eliminate evil. She bit her lip and glanced at Lance.

"We weren’t planning to stand by and do nothing," Mira replied honestly. "As for the reward, she has plenty of money, all stored in a ring. It’s enough for her to live comfortably for a lifetime."

"I don’t need a reward," Mira said to Lady Ellin.

"The princess is a good person. I only hope you don’t misunderstand her."

Lady Ellin froze for a moment, then turned her head away.

"Sorry, this wasn’t my decision."

On the way back to the tower, Mira kept pondering the meaning of Lady Ellin’s words, “This isn’t something I can decide.”

Originally, they hadn’t planned on returning to the tower immediately, but Lance had said there were some things that needed to be prepared in advance.

Mira asked him what needed to be prepared.

He only mysteriously replied, “It’s a secret.”

Mira didn’t like the word “secret.” She hated the way it stirred up curiosity without satisfying it.

Lance and Mira walked southwest for a while. When the time was right, the blue dragon took Mira’s hand and cast a teleportation spell.

The unique smell of the library filled the air, and the surroundings gradually became clearer. Mira realized they hadn’t returned to the bottom of the tower, but had instead entered the library directly.

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The origami spirit sensed the magical fluctuation and floated over toward them.

Blue was its master’s color. As it eagerly wanted to call out “Master,” it saw another figure hiding behind Lance.

It was Mira.

The origami spirit quickly shut its mouth.

It remembered its master’s warning — never let anything slip in front of Mira. It had no name. It wasn’t called “Star.” Who was Star? It didn’t know.

The origami spirit emphasized this thought and floated toward Mira and Lance.

At that moment, it silently thanked its lack of human expressions; it couldn’t show any detailed emotions.

The spirit wore a blank expression and controlled its gaze, avoiding looking at Lance.

“Good day, Mira,” it greeted politely.

“Hello,” Mira responded to the origami spirit.

She looked around, and when her eyes landed on a locked door, she instantly understood Lance’s purpose.

The magical wards on the room where the scrolls were kept — Lance wanted to open it and retrieve a few scrolls.

And that’s exactly what he did.

The blue dragon told Mira to wait where she was, then limped toward the room where the scrolls were stored.

Mira sat on a pedestal, flipping through the information she had bought from the information dealer.

Recalling the words of Lady Ellin’s youngest daughter, Ina, she focused on the southwest direction of the small town while sifting through the information.

Another important clue was the crystal.

The information dealer had always been active in this area, receiving and processing all kinds of information. His judgment must have some merit.

The words of the dragon king and the princess must also be based on something.

"Come here," Mira called out to the origami spirit.

It floated toward her.

“Can you read?” Mira asked it.

The origami spirit nodded.

“Then help me read these,” Mira said, setting aside a small portion of the documents on the table.

The papers were even larger than the origami spirit’s body, and spreading them out on the table made it easier for it to read.

“Southwest, small town, crystal, dragon king, and princess,” Mira gave it the keywords to focus on.

The origami spirit nodded, taking note. Although it didn’t know what the purpose of this was, it obediently began working.

With the origami spirit’s help, Mira quickly identified the useful information from the stack of papers.

“About 400 miles southwest of the town, there’s a place called Ghillian, a small town with two large mines in the nearby mountains. The records say that the town’s people have always lived off mining.

“However, two years ago, there was an earthquake in the nearby mountains, and Ghillian, with its underground mines, was the most severely damaged town in the area. Despite the significant damage from the earthquake, the records say that the town’s mining industry returned to normal in just three months.”

Mira shared the summarized information with Lance.

“It matches with the reconnaissance report,” Lance said, leaning over with the drawn scroll in hand.

“Keep this safe, Mira,” he added. He was concerned that the spell cast through the scale as a medium might produce some strange side effects.

Usually, these issues could be resolved, but if something went wrong during a more critical situation, it could endanger Mira.

Lance had intended the scale to help Mira learn and cast spells without being affected by an external medium. He hadn’t expected the high compatibility with the medium would actually affect the magic itself.

Mira knew scroll magic, but this was the first time she encountered a spell written on parchment.

She was about to open one of the scrolls, but Lance stopped her.

“You’ll open them when you need to,” he said, looking at her. “One is an offensive spell, one is a defensive spell, and the one with the purple appearance is an escape spell. Mira, if you encounter a situation you can’t handle, use that one. Don’t force yourself.”

Mira nodded, storing the scrolls in her ring.

The teleportation spell successfully transported the two of them to their previous location. Following the map in the information, Mira and Lance continued to head southwest.

Thanks to their previous experience, this time Mira and Lance’s disguise was more convincing. They chose not to directly teleport near the town, but instead walked along a small mountain path together.

Because Lance had trouble with his legs, their pace wasn’t fast. They spent the night in a cave, and with the help of magic, everything went relatively smoothly.

Camping out caused the two of them to pick up the right kind of weariness, making them look like tired travelers.

By afternoon, Mira and Lance arrived at Ghillian Town.

From the moment they set foot in the town, they could feel the strange looks of the townspeople.

Suspicion, wariness, and even blatant malice.

Mira frowned, pretending not to notice the odd atmosphere. But she couldn’t ignore the oppressive tension in the air.

According to the records, Ghillian Town, with its two massive natural mining caves, had been one of the wealthiest towns in the eastern part of the kingdom.

Though the great earthquake two years ago had destroyed most of the buildings and caused heavy casualties, the town should have returned to prosperity with the recovery of its mining industry.

But Mira didn’t feel any prosperity.

The town felt shrouded in a grayish fog, everywhere coated in grime that couldn’t be washed away. This wasn’t the accumulation of dirt over a few days or weeks; it was the decay of years and years of neglect.

Mira scratched the ground with her shoe, revealing a patch of the blue stone slab beneath.

Ghillian used to be a prosperous town, and the roads were paved with the finest blue stone. But now, it was all buried beneath a thick layer of dirt.

Lance also frowned, but not because of the filth. From the moment they entered the town, he had sensed a strange magical fluctuation.

The blue dragon glanced toward the mountain ridge behind the town.

The mines were in the mountains, and this strange energy was emanating from that direction.

There was clearly something wrong here. Lance was sure of it, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source of the problem.

Mira noticed an old woman hunched over, drawing water from a well by the side of the street.

Her movements were very slow, like rusted machinery, with unnatural pauses between each action.

Mira frowned, but quickly adjusted her expression and walked toward the old woman.

She cheerfully helped the elderly woman draw water.

The woman watched Mira’s movements coldly, until Mira managed to pull the bucket from the deep well, nearly vomiting from the sight.

The water was thicker than mud soup! There were countless wriggling things floating on the surface. Maybe it was bugs, or something worse.

It was grotesque. But the old woman acted as if she didn’t notice anything unusual. She picked up the bucket and nodded toward Mira.

It might have been meant as a thank you. Mira gave a dry smile, doing her best to sound natural.

“Hello, Grandma. I was wondering if there’s an inn around here? We’re…”

Before Mira could finish her sentence, the old woman stretched out her withered hand and pointed vaguely in a direction.

“That way,” her voice rasped, as though it had been forced out of her throat.

The strangeness here was palpable, but nothing in the records had mentioned anything about it. Mira returned to where Lance was standing, not saying a word, but her eyes conveyed everything she was feeling.

Lance had also noticed the bucket of water. But, more than that, with his dragon’s eyes, he saw even more.

The old woman had been dead for a while. Her limbs had completely stiffened, which explained her mechanical movements. The well water was obviously undrinkable, and the wriggling things floating on the surface were maggots.

Lance averted his gaze and looked in the direction the old woman had pointed.

“Mira, stay close to me,” he said, reaching for her hand. The warmth of his palm was unmistakable as it passed to her.

Mira was surprised but quickly realized that the danger of the surroundings was the reason for Lance’s action.

She quietly observed him; he was looking in the direction the old woman had pointed, as though contemplating whether to investigate further.

They continued toward the direction of the inn. All along the way, the stares that lingered on them didn’t lessen in the slightest.

Mira also kept a sharp eye on the surroundings. There were quite a few other people who, like the old woman, seemed stiff and slow. At a glance, they didn’t seem normal.

Mira wondered if they were already dead. She knew that some dark magic could turn a corpse into a puppet, but such forbidden magic had long been lost.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, another idea negated it. Since Lance had mastered the ancient teleportation spell, wasn’t it also possible that someone else had mastered the lost dark magic?

The world of magic was much bigger than she had imagined.

Lance and Mira arrived at a house with a sign for an inn hanging outside.

They were about to enter when someone called out to them.

“What are you doing?”

Lance turned his head to look at the man approaching them.

He was human, alive.

“We heard there’s an inn here,” Mira said in a low voice.

The man sized up Lance and Mira, raising an eyebrow as if he had discovered something.

“There’s no place left in town that can be called an inn. Adventurers?” The man’s gaze slid over Mira’s form, revealing a disturbing greed.

Mira knew what he was looking at. Even though she had disguised herself to look like a small, frail boy, standing beside the tall Lance, her real gender couldn’t be hidden by the disguise.

Alright… Mira admitted, she had intended for it to look that way.

When she was running alone, she made herself look as tough and fierce as possible, but now, with Lance by her side, she made herself appear softer. In contrast to the tall young man, it made her look more delicate.

And when people misjudged her based on her appearance, that’s when Mira found her best opportunity.

Magic didn’t change based on the caster’s appearance, whether weak or strong. Whether it was fireballs or lightning, it would still kill a normal person.

“If you keep staring, I’ll gouge your eyes out,” Lance said, turning his head. A long sword with a faint blue glow appeared in his hand.

It was a sword formed with magic.

Mira instantly understood his intent—he was pretending to be a hero. If the rumors about the disappearance of the town’s heroes’ descendants were related to this eerie town, then the appearance of a true hero would certainly draw the attention of the people behind it.

Lance’s move had another purpose too. Like Mira, who pretended to be weak, he was pretending to be a hero, but he could use magic when the moment called for it.

She quietly chuckled, appreciating their perfect coordination—both of them thinking the same thing.

The yellow-toothed man furrowed his brow, his gaze sliding away from the blue sword. He snorted heavily and muttered a sentence as he turned to walk away.

“The innkeeper’s already run off. There’s no inn in town, but there are plenty of rooms upstairs. If you’re brave enough, go ahead and stay. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, this town’s not safe, and heroes should stay out of it.”

Lance and Mira exchanged a glance, ignoring his words.

Lance sheathed his sword, and Mira helped him toward the second floor of the inn.

The yellow-toothed man looked at Lance’s limp, amused for a moment, then quickly hid his expression and went into his room on the first floor.

Lance and Mira chose a room at the end of the hallway. It had originally been a storage room, piled with miscellaneous items. Mira and Lance just needed a place where they could speak freely, so they weren’t picky about the environment.

In fact, the room closer to the stairs would have been the most ideal, but it seemed that all the rooms near the stairs were occupied.

The innkeeper had run off, and the vacant rooms provided a place for those with nowhere else to go.

Through the slightly ajar door, Mira could see tools scattered on the floor, with some people sleeping soundly.

They looked like miners, judging by their clothes.

They worked in the mines at night, and returned to their temporary lodging to sleep during the day. There didn’t seem to be anything odd about it.

But the town was full of strange things. Why had the innkeeper run away, abandoning business? Even renting out the empty rooms to these workers would have provided some income.

She was lost in thought for a moment, when suddenly, Lance turned sharply, startling Mira. She quickly put a hand to her mouth, holding back a scream.

Lance’s eyes flashed with surprise. Realizing he had startled her with his sudden movement, he smiled.

“Are you okay?” Lance asked with a smile, “It’s safe here with me.”

Mira glared at him, but then realized that Lance must have sensed something, which was why he had reacted suddenly.

“What did you find?” she asked him quickly.

The blue-haired young man paused and then answered, “The fluffy ball was squashed to death.”